By Lorna Evio

It may be called the Mad Hatter Saloon but it is no tea party when the Manchester City supporters club congregate here to watch their team play.

Located on 3rd avenue (between 26th and 27th st), the Saloon has been home of the New York Manchester City supporters since 2007, although the club was originally formed in the 1990s. The supporters club was created to bring all the City fans that were scattered all over the city to a central place to watch their games. It has proven successful with a steady growth in the number of members and also a new breed of American fans joining in the last year. Furthermore, visiting City fans also know where to go, so they do not have to miss a game while vacationing in New York.

The Saloon is so dedicated to the Manchester City Club that once you walk into the bar, on the right you will see a wall covered in Manchester City memorabilia.

I had the privilege of speaking to Michael Warren and John Pepper who both travel two hours to join their City cohorts for games at the Saloon. There are many of us who struggle to get up on time to watch our teams play at 7:30am, which is the time these guys have to get up to watch City play at lunch time! I can only imagine what Michael and John do when Manchester City have early games.

However, their commitment to their club goes much further than that. As part of the Manchester City’s charity work, they have an initiative called ‘City and the Community’, which has gone global. By the end of last season the NYC supporters raised $6000 for ‘City and the Community’, which is being used to bring soccer to approximately 3000 kids locally. If you recently thought you saw multiple Santas wearing blue suits at Macy’s you were not seeing things, they were the City supporters partaking in what is called the Santa Stroll. The funds raised will all go back to the initiative, and the photos taken across New York will be will be published on Manchester City’s official website.

Both Michael and John are lifelong City fans and have seen what John calls the “awful” times as well as the memorable ones. Like any any loyal fan however, you stand by your team, no matter what the circumstances. Despite failing to qualify from the Champions’ League group stage, that loyalty is now paying off and they both agree that the highlight of the current season so far was when Manchester City won the derby against their red neighbours at Old Trafford 6-1.

“Now we are seeing the tables turned,” said John. “There has never been a better time to be a Manchester City fan.”

Many years have been spent in the shadow of United, but the last few seasons have seen Manchester City emerge strongly, thanks largely to a large injection of funding by the new owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group. This season in particular has seen a vast impovement in how the team has played in the Premier League, so far. Michael believes that each player has played their part this season, but remains humble about City’s chances of winning the Premier League title.

“I have been a Manchester City fan for a very long time, and we have to be realistic, let’s just hope they keep their current form.”

It may be too early to say, but they’ve surely got to be a good bet.

Follow Lorna Evio on twitter at twitter.com/herrightboot

See the full list of the Supporters Clubs of New York